Sometimes the hyperbole that surrounds a Resonance release can run away with itself. In one or two instances, the rarity of the performance seemed to outweigh the performance itself.

That said, the label has created a niche in the marketplace it can call its own, because the majority of releases unearthed by Zev Feldman, the self styled ‘Jazz Detective’, have helped broaden our understanding of long established jazz stars when all that could be said about them seemed done, as well as providing a valuable corollary to an established discography, sometimes exploding myths and speculation by evidence of the performance.

On Fire is a release that certainly lives up to the hyperbole – “This recording is insane! It’s one of the most exciting live documents I’ve ever heard in my life,” said trumpeter Steve Bernstein – but it also something more. It spells out why Freddie Hubbard was so highly regarded in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in a way that his studio recordings merely suggested.

A sought-after trumpet man who appeared on some the great classic albums of the period (several detailed in the accompanying feature this issue) where saxophonist Bennie Maupin pointed out in the copious liner notes, Hubbard was “all business’ in the studio. But on this live date he is unbridled in a way that amplifies the rare Fastball: Live at the Left Bank (Hyena Records), recorded a fortnight later.

The recording quality is very good, and captures the moment well. Unaware he was being recorded he lets rip, chance taking, ducking and diving through the changes in a two hour long exposition that captures the energy, intensity and sheer creativity of a trumpet master.

With all but one of the seven tracks clocking in at plus or slightly minus 15 minutes demanded remarkable stamina for a brass instrumentalist.

Sustaining this over a whole set was incredible, but Hubbard did not spare himself, he was in this for real, and there will have to be some revisionist thinking on Hubbard’s place in the trumpet hierarchy in jazz.

Aside from the five-minute bass solo on ‘Echoes of Blue,’ where Hubbard was no doubt grateful to rest his lip after the preceding 17-minute ‘Up Jumped Spring,’ this album is an excellent addition to Hubbard’s discography, one that will take time for its significance to be fully absorbed.